Ghost Train

Hot Club of Cowtown | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 17, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Shout Factory
• ASIN: B00006J3W0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,451 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Swing, à la Django Reinhardt and Bob Wills, is the jazz that even jazz haters can love. Its bouncy energy appeals to one and all, and in concert, the Hot Club of Cowtown are among the finest purveyors of the style. As players, they have absorbed all the lessons of their heroes; however, as songwriters, they missed a few. Violinist Elena Fremerman's "Home" sounds like a verse to an old standard that goes on and on without ever reaching the chorus, while Whit Smith's tale of a wicked stepmother is a relentlessly bleak essay set to perky music. Smith's "Sleep" and Fremerman's "Secret of Mine" fare better, but still pale beside the offhand brilliance of the Rodgers and Hart chestnut "You Took Advantage of Me." Swing fans will enjoy plenty of hot playing, but newcomers to the band will find some evidence of their live charm only on the Gypsy-style instrumental "Fuli Tschai" and the last track, the gospel-tinged "Pray for the Lights to Go Out." --Michael Ross

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best CD I heard in 2003, May 25, 2004

By 

T. Test "Tigers Fan" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ghost Train (Audio CD)

I saw this band in Chicago at the 2004 American Music Festival at Fitzgerald's (my favorite cultural event of the year). They blew me away with their charm, energy, and virtuosity. I picked up this CD on the spot, and immediately fell in love. Elana's vocals are sublime, and her fiddling ranges from sweet to incendiary; Whit's vocals are sly - my wife said it's the verbal equivalent of "bedroom eyes," and he's a wonderful guitarist; and Jake's bass playing is charismatic and a joy to watch in concert.

The originals here are every bit as good as the classic songs they do so well. In fact, I'd encourage them to write more!

A few months after buying this CD and listening to it many times, I had to drive a long way through bad rush-hour traffic to a wake. Normally, this would be a presciption to guarantee a foul mood. But when I popped this CD into my player... all was well in my world. It really has that kind of effect on me.

I now own all of their CDs available here - I just went to their website and see they have a few Japanese releases. I think this is their best, followed by Continental Stomp. And if they ever come to your town for a show, drop everything you're doing and make sure you get out to see them. You'll have a joyful time.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sparkling, polished effort from string-swing band, September 17, 2002

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Ghost Train (Audio CD)

For their fourth long-player, this jazz and western swing trio has penned their largest yet helping of originals. The band's stripped-down mix of fiddle, guitar and bass, augmented only by Joe Kerr's piano, is a sly mix of hot licks and cool vocals, equally hill-driven by the twang of Texas roadhouses as the gypsy string jazz of Reinhardt and Grappelli.

Producer Gurf Morlix continues the direction taken by Lloyd Maines on the band's previous album, focussing on studio tracking and delivering a polished, constructed album. It's not without swing (Jake Erwin's propulsive upright bass makes sure of that), but the finish is that of a studio album, rather than the live stage, and the lack of guest players creates a much more intimate sound than the band has previously laid down on wax.

The original songs give violinist Elana Fremerman and guitarist Whit Smith a chance to coin their own vocals. Smith often employs a somnambulistic style that finely matches tales of insomnia ("Sleep") and shady film noir circumstance ("It Stops With me"). Fremerman tries out several different styles, including the sort of overdubbed close-harmonies Les Paul constructed around Mary Ford ("Forget-Me-Nots," with Smith adding fluid instrumental embroidery), and winsome ballads like "Home."

The band shows itself to be increasingly immersed in their chosen style, rather than merely imitative of it. Covers of traditional gypsy and fiddle tunes ("Fuli Tschai" and "Cherokee Shuffle," respectively), minstrel songs ("Pray for the Lights to Go Out"), Tin Pan Alley (Rodgers & Hart's "You Took Advantage of Me") and Aerosmith's "Chip Away the Stone" all mingle effortlessly with the originals.

The focus on the band's three players and the extra time spent in the studio (in which they are obviously more comfortable than ever) has resulted in the most refined and focussed album of Hot Club's career. One can just imagine these tunes spinning from the speaker of your family's tube radio.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ghost Train, October 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Ghost Train (Audio CD)

The Hot Club of Cowtown is a wonderful new group. This is their best CD, although all of them are great. They are innovative, but have respect for some of the more standard tunes. They obviously love the music they play. I have seen them twice and they are a joy to watch, lively, energetic, yet laid back. If you can't spend an evening with them, Ghost Train is the next best thing!